"Sweet Home, Chicago...Detroit...Los Angeles...!"
The Blues Moves to the City: Part II
Most of us are familiar with the classic poster of Rosie the Riveter, the iconic portrayal of women moving into the workforce of America during World War Two. Fewer folks are aware that beginning in 1941 an estimated 5 million African Americans left the South and emigrated to the industrial cites of the Midwest and West in what some historians call "the Second Great Migration", an exodus that lasted for the next three decades.
Leaving the overt discrimination of the South for good paying jobs, first in the defense industry, then in the burgeoning automobile industry, this migration continued the urbanization of the African American culture as Detroit and Los Angeles joined Chicago in hosting vibrant blues scenes. With the introduction of the electric guitar, Little Walter's creative use of amplified distortion to recreate the blues harmonica, and the continued development of combos including piano, saxophone and trap drums, country blues
continued to evolve throughout the 1940's toward the modern, urban sound.
This week Spinning Tales will focus in on the rich transitional blues scene of those years, hearing early recordings from well known bluesmen like John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and Little Walter, all of who continued to perform for decades and became part of the folk and blues revivals of the 1960's.
We'll also hear from a host of others, perhaps, lesser known, bluesmen like L.C Green, Playboy Fuller, Calvin Frazier, Sampson Pittman as we listen to the acoustic country blues meet the electric guitar head-on in the city clubs and recording studios of urban America in the 1940's. We'll hear blues piano from Sunnyland Slim, Roosevelt Sykes and others, too, as we move through blues of this era toward our next destination on Spinning Tales.
It was an electrifying time in the world of the blues, as the rawness of the country blues merged with modern technology to create a new palette of sound to express those ancient feelings. We hope you'll tune in to enjoy it with us.
The Blues Moves to the City: Part II
Leaving the overt discrimination of the South for good paying jobs, first in the defense industry, then in the burgeoning automobile industry, this migration continued the urbanization of the African American culture as Detroit and Los Angeles joined Chicago in hosting vibrant blues scenes. With the introduction of the electric guitar, Little Walter's creative use of amplified distortion to recreate the blues harmonica, and the continued development of combos including piano, saxophone and trap drums, country blues
continued to evolve throughout the 1940's toward the modern, urban sound.
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| "Little Walter" Jacobs |
We'll also hear from a host of others, perhaps, lesser known, bluesmen like L.C Green, Playboy Fuller, Calvin Frazier, Sampson Pittman as we listen to the acoustic country blues meet the electric guitar head-on in the city clubs and recording studios of urban America in the 1940's. We'll hear blues piano from Sunnyland Slim, Roosevelt Sykes and others, too, as we move through blues of this era toward our next destination on Spinning Tales.
It was an electrifying time in the world of the blues, as the rawness of the country blues merged with modern technology to create a new palette of sound to express those ancient feelings. We hope you'll tune in to enjoy it with us.
